Comments on: News of the Day – 12/18/08

By: Horace Clarke Era

Horace Clarke Era — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 20:31:24 +0000

Cliff I’m with Diane, obviously. See little downside to Baldelli in a contract built around plate appearances and incentives. Beats 10 million for Cameron, for me. Plate discipline? Agreed, he’s, he’s … a regular Robbie Cano!

Zack, the snag with your reasoning is that there is too little VALUE to those pitchers right now. No idea what kind of ‘quality bat’ you think could be obtained for pitchers at their lowest valuation ever, or others who have not yet shown anything. You want, maybe, Matt Holliday? Ian Kennedy comin atcha! Deal?

13th, I actually think there are a lot of ManFans here, from what I’m reading. Not sure how many would go with you as far as ‘endearing’ though. I used to think of him as just quirky, eccentric, unique … a kind of Mickey Rivers ‘on his own planet’ guy. But last two-three years, the which-knee-is-hurt stuff OYF mentioned … nope.

By: The 13th

The 13th — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 17:25:16 +0000

I know I’m in the minority here, but I like Manny. I fear him as an opponent and I find his persona endearing. He’s certainly one of the most entertaining players around today.

I think if he comes to the Yankees, they won’t let him get away with what Boston allowed. As for the motivation allegations, he may not play for another big contract again but he’ll certainly have the motivation to stick it to a certain team I’m sure he resents…

By: zack

zack — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 17:01:05 +0000

William, I am totally with you on all your points, so i won’t bother restating them. We seem to be waving the flag together, alone, but so be it. I guess 2009 will be a year of agreements between us instead of arguments. Who knows!

In any case, if the Yankees DON’T sign a FA bat, I think they should make the Cameron trade. Hoping that Melky will somehow turn it around in the winter league strikes me as very very foolish. Sure, he might. But its a lot more likely that he won’t, and as soon as the season starts he’ll revert to form. After all, its not like hes facing the cream of the crop down there.

I would really like to see the Yanks sign Manny, and then turn Nady and some of the ml pitching (and even Melky if anyone wants him) into a young impact bat or two. As mentioned in the last thread, the Rangers did that with Hamilton. With the rotation as it is, they can certainly afford to trade some of that depth.

I know, I know, the Yankees simply can’t trade young pitching because it wins championships and you need equal value blah blah blah. Suggesting trading prospects has become such sacrilege these days. But honestly, for the umpteenth time, the Yankees have more RH pitching than they can possibly deal with. Fine, you don’t want to trade Hughes, trade McAllister and Betencis, or Brackman. Or Bliech. Or Garcia. Or whomever.

By: Diane Firstman

Diane Firstman — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 16:59:09 +0000

[13]

I hear ya’ …. totally. I was thinking of him as a “low-risk”/”high-reward” potential pickup.

There are few suitable answers for CF out there right now.

By: Cliff Corcoran

Cliff Corcoran — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 16:42:34 +0000

Diane, just because Baldelli’s condition turns out to be more treatable doesn’t mean he’s going to leap back to full health. He still has a cellular disorder, and he still didn’t play a single game in center field last year in the majors or minors (also, as an indication of his mobility, he didn’t steal a single base after returning to majors). He’s still young enough and could be a solid right-handed bench bat right now, but his days as a center fielder may very well be over, even if he responds well to treatment. Oh, and his plate discipline is still terrible.

By: 51cq24

51cq24 — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 16:36:18 +0000

manny is the best hitter i’ve ever seen. i don’t love him, especially since he supposedly threw boston’s costanza to the ground (and while i believe it probably happened, i haven’t seen any evidence, and clearly boston was looking for an excuse to get rid of him), but i’ve always liked that he seems to enjoy himself. furthermore, it’s always seemed to me that he wanted more than anything to play for the yankees. it was a mistake not to sign him in 2000. while i’m usually against signing an older player, manny has shown no signs of decline and is only 36. as william points out, even when he had supposedly quit playing for boston last year, he put up a 136 ops+. then a 219 ops+ in la. i understand the resentment towards a player who doesn’t seem to always try his hardest, but if he can do .299/.398/.529 at his worst, what is the big deal? would you rather have a shitty player who always tries hard?
manny is better than teixeira. he isn’t a good fielder, but would that really make a big difference? hopefully he’d split time between rf and (mostly) dh, and we can trade damon for a minor leaguer or something.
and how can you not like a player who tried to get away with putting a water bottle in his back pocket?

By: Mattpat11

Mattpat11 — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 16:35:44 +0000

rbj I gave up on believing anything The Times had to say when the simply made shit up about a major Presidential candidate during the Presidential primary campaign.

By: Horace Clarke Era

Horace Clarke Era — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 16:33:56 +0000

Newsday has two reporters essentially saying ‘next to no chance’ for Yankees-ManRam. He doesn’t ‘fit’ Cashman’s style, and the YoungenSteins are allegedly less likely to push him now than they did with A Rod. (A Rod happened during the Torre fallout.)

If so, we’re best off with Teixeira to Anaheim for his 200 million, and then Manny stays in L.A. with Torre.

By: Dimelo

Dimelo — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 16:27:38 +0000

I find Rhoden to be sloppy with his writing there, and to cite that comment about Sabathia as that being so profound is just silly. I also hate it that people like to blame the establishment as why African American kids aren’t into baseball.

The little league games in Inwood and other areas I’ve seen, have a ton of Spanish kids there, and they are suffering through the same socio-economic condition as Black kids. I guess it’s more convenient to blame someone than to say, Black kids aren’t interested in baseball because the athletes most of them look up to play different sports – i.e basketball and football.

Not saying I don’t see African American kids in these little league games because I do, but the bottom line is that a lot of them end up enjoying more the other sports they play.

One thing though, having someone like Sabathia and players like Jimmy Rollins play for well known urban teams like Philadelphia and New York will help with the exposure. But I don’t think it is MLB’s fault.

By: Horace Clarke Era

Horace Clarke Era — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 16:00:51 +0000

I think Manny plays out, as many other dudes will, only after Teixeira’s done. Anaheim will very possibly chase him for 3 years if Boston lands Tex. Though it will be amusing to watch a hardcase like Scioscia have to deal with ManRam. If Anaheim signs Tex, Boston’s in a trickier spot (Dunn? Bradley?) as someone here pointed out (was it OYF? William?) since they can’t and won’t touch Manny.

My bet is that if Boston DOES land Teixeira, though, we’ll battle Anaheim for Ramirez … the old AL East arms race. Alas.